A Little Innovation Goes a Long Way

An entrepreneurial spirit and a little bit of ingenuity have helped Anusha Kumudini overcome the difficulties she faced after tsunami waters flooded her home. Anusha lives in a humble house down a narrow winding road in Kahawa. In her garden, coconut palms and banana trees sway in the morning breeze; it could have been any garden in a village in the south of Sri Lanka.

In a corner of the garden, a man turns the handle that activates a clattering spinning wheel fabricated with wood and the rim of a bicycle wheel. This wheel helps Anusha, her sister and aunt to convert coir into rope, the family’s traditional profession. An innovative feature about Anusha’s spinning wheel is that it has three spindle hooks, whereas the standard model has two. The machine was modified to allow her aunt to contribute to the family’s efforts at earning a livelihood; by doing so, Anusha has effectively increased productivity by 50%.

Anusha buys raw coir at Rs 20 (US$ 0.20) per kilogram and sells rope at Rs 40 (US$ 0.40) per kilogram to manufacturers of rugs, gunny bags and jute products. She speaks with admiration of the samithi (CBO) to which she belongs. The CBO received SSGF funding and has a little over Rs 400,000 (US$ 3,920) in its revolving fund, which is accessible to its 47 members.

Anusha used most of her loan of Rs 25,000 (US$ 245) from the CBO as initial capital to buy rope made by other people and resell it at a profit to manufacturers. She used Rs 1,500 (US$ 15) to buy the spinning wheel and repays Rs 1,300 (US$ 13) every month.

“I am very impressed with the samithi,” Anusha says, “Especially because they lend at 1% per month (reducing balance), which is the lowest in these parts.” Other CBOs she knows of lend at 2% per month and deduct Rs 375 (US$ 3.70) upfront from the loan amount, she explains. The CBO also conducts very efficient meetings - only once a month, lasting one hour, which is great because it does not cut into her time that is spent converting coir into rope.